Question

why is carbon monoxide used to reduce zinc oxide to zinc in the zinc extraction process and not carbon directly?​

Answer 1

The chemical reaction involving the reduction of ZnO by CO is not feasible thermodynamically: This is because the standard free energy of formation ( ) of CO2 from CO is higher than that of the formation of ZnO from Zn. Thus, CO cannot be used to reduce ZnO to Zn.